The new iOS 6 feature confused iPhone users last January 1 when they found out that the feature failed to switch off as planned due to a bug in the operating system. Apple confirmed that they will not fix the "Do Not Disturb" bug on the iPhone since the feature will repair itself on Monday, January 7.

The bug became a hassle for the iPhone users especially those subscribed at AT&T and Verizon. Their smart phones remained dark and silent even though they are already receiving phone calls or text messages.

Apple's reaction to the problem is indicated in a released support document. The statement reads: "After January 1st, 2013, Do Not Disturb mode stays on past its scheduled end time. Do Not Disturb scheduling feature will resume normal functionality after January 7, 2013. Before this date, you should manually turn the Do Not Disturb feature on or off. To turn off the scheduling feature, tap Settings > Notifications > Do Not Disturb and switch Scheduled to Off."

The solution of turning off the iPhone or switching to airplane mode only gave the users who already missed important appointments a slight reassurance about the problem. Numerous iPhone 4 users expressed their disappointment with the iOS 6 feature on blogs and internet chat boards.

Negative feedbacks about the "Do Not Disturb" feature may not be a good sign for Apple especially if the technology giant is endorsing the iPhone feature. Apple did not confirm what caused the bug but developers suggest that the software's format on dates probably caused the malfunction.

Patrick McCarron, an Apple iOS developer, stated that Apple committed a common mistake through the incorrect date formatting where January 7 is defined as the final week for the year 2012. "Why a date is checked for a time-only event (Do Not Disturb) is beyond me, but clearly it is," McCarron stated.

According to Arstechnica.com, the ISO week numbering system uses the YYYY format for the year instead of the Gregorian calendar's format of yyyy. Therefore, the format looks at which week of the year it is and then uses a date digit with 1 starting on Monday.

With that, McCarron believes Apple should be looking at the time when to turn DND on or off where dates are not taken into account. "I'm glad this YYYY versus yyyy issue is getting attention. It bit me years ago on an app and I've seen a few other developers who have noticed the issue as well in their code yesterday," McCarron shared.

Hopefully, the "Do Not Disturb" bug will be repaired this 2013 especially if there is a new version of the iOS in order to avoid experiencing the same year-end glitch in 2014.

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